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The Deep Space Network: a Functional Description

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The Deep Space Network: a Functional Description Chapter 2 The Deep Space Network: A Functional Description Jim Taylor All deep-space missions—defined as those operating at or beyond the orbit of the Earth’s Moon—require some form of telecommunications network with a ground system to transmit to and receive data from the spacecraft. The Deep Space Network or DSN is one of the largest and most sophisticated of such networks. NASA missions in low Earth orbit communicate through either the Near Earth Network (NEN) or the SN (Space Network), with the SN, both operated by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The SN has of a number of Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS) in geosynchronous orbits. In addition, the European Space Agency operates a number of ground stations that may be used to track NASA deep space missions during the hours after launch. In addition, commercial companies operate ground stations that can communicate with NASA missions. The remainder of this book describes only the Deep Space Network operated for NASA by JPL. The lessons and techniques of the DSN replicate many comparable issues of the other networks. The lessons from the missions described in the following chapters are widely applicable to all deep space telecommunications systems. This includes post-launch support that was negotiated and planned using stations belonging to networks other than the DSN. The description and performance summary of the DSN in this chapter come from the DSN Telecommunications Link Design Handbook, widely known 15 16 Chapter 2 within NASA as the 810-5 document [1]. This modular handbook has been approved by the DSN Project Office, and its modules are updated to define current DSN capabilities. It is an online source of technical information for all flight projects using the DSN. The following description is taken from 810-5 modules that provide technical information applicable to the current DSN configurations that provide carrier tracking, radiometric data, command transmission and telemetry reception. The DSN is an international network of ground stations (antennas, transmitters, receivers, and associated systems) that operated intensively at S-band in the 1960s and 1970s, moving into X-band in the 1980s and 1990s, and more into Ka-band in the 2000s. The DSN supports interplanetary-spacecraft missions and radio- and radar-astronomy observations for the exploration of the Solar System and beyond. The DSN consists of three Deep Space Communications Complexes (DSCCs) placed approximately 120 degrees (deg) apart around the world: at Goldstone, in California’s Mojave Desert; near Madrid, Spain; and near Canberra, Australia. The DSN’s hardware and software systems and their interconnected facilities have evolved over the decades. This chapter describes the DSN as it is today. The subsequent chapters describe the spacecraft designs of individual missions. Each chapter includes a description of the unique aspects of the ground system that supported the mission at that time. Because each mission is unique, the telecommunications system for the mission is also unique. While the subsequent chapters describe the spacecraft designs of individual missions, these chapters will describe only the historical or unique aspects of the ground system as it supported that mission at the time. This chapter includes brief descriptions and functional block diagrams of DSN systems at the DSCCs that provide carrier tracking, radiometric data (Doppler and ranging) collection, command uplinking, and telemetry reception and decoding for deep space missions, those defined at lunar distances or greater. Each antenna (or Deep Space Station, DSS) in the DSN is capable of sending commands to one spacecraft at a time. Each DSCC contains one 70-meter (m) and from two to five 34-m antennas. There are two types of 34-m antennas. The first is the so-called high efficiency (HEF) antennas that have their feed, low- noise amplifiers, and transmitter located on the tilting structure of the antenna. These antennas were named when a less-efficient 34-m antenna was in use by the DSN and the name has survived. The efficiency of all DSN 34-m antennas is now approximately the same. The second type of 34-m antenna is the beam waveguide (BWG) antenna where the feeds, low-noise amplifiers and The Deep Space Network: A Functional Description 17 transmitters are located in a room below the antenna structure and the radio frequency energy is transferred to and from the antenna surface by a series of mirrors encased in a protective tube. The capabilities of the antennas differ slightly depending on the microwave, transmitting, and receiving equipment installed. 2.1 Uplink and Downlink Carrier Operation DSN stations are grouped by antenna size (26 m, 34 m, and 70 m), and for the 34-m antennas by type—BWG or HEF. The DSN Telecommunications Link Design Handbook [1] includes functional capability descriptions of each antenna size and type for the purpose of modeling link capability between a spacecraft and that station type. 2.1.1 The 34-m BWG Stations The 34-meter diameter BWG (beam waveguide) and HSB (high angular- tracking speed beam waveguide) antennas are the latest generation of antennas built for use in the DSN. The newest of these, Deep Space Station 35 (DSS-35) at Canberra, is on schedule to be operational in October 2014. This section describes, as representative of the 34-m stations, the system functions at Deep Space Station 25 (DSS-25), a 34-m BWG station currently in use at Goldstone. In general, each antenna has one LNA for each supported frequency band. However, stations that can support simultaneous right circular polarization (RCP) and left circular polarization (LCP) in the same band have an LNA for each. In addition, the stations that support Ka-Band contain an additional LNA to enable monopulse tracking when using RCP polarization. Each antenna also has at least one transmitter. Antennas with more than one transmitter can operate only one of them at a time. DSS 25 is an exception and has a Ka-band transmitter that can be operated at the same time as its X-band transmitter. In Fig. 2-1, the radio frequency (RF) output from the 20-kW X-band transmitter goes through the X-band diplexer, then through an orthomode junction and polarizer to the X-band feed. The X-band uplink continues to the subreflector via an X-band/Ka-band dichroic plate, if simultaneous Ka-band is required. From the subreflector, the X-band uplink is focused to the 34-m main reflector, which is oriented in the direction of the spacecraft during the active track. 18 Chapter 2 (A new Ka-band transmitter will go into service in 2015.) Fig. 2-1. Functional block diagram of the DSS-25 microwave and transmitter. The Deep Space Network: A Functional Description 19 The X-band downlink signal from the spacecraft is collected by the 34-m main reflector. Then it is focused by the subreflector to the X-band feed (again via the X-band/Ka-band dichroic when there is also a Ka-band downlink from the spacecraft). The orthomode junction is the part of the antenna feed that combines or separates left-circularly polarized and right-circularly polarized (LCP and RCP) signals. From the feed the X-band RF signal goes to the X-band maser preamplifier. When simultaneous X-Band uplink and downlink of the same polarization are required at stations with waveguide diplexers, reception must be through the diplexer, and the noise will be increased over that of the non-diplexed path. After low-noise amplification, the downlink is frequency down-converted to a 300-megahertz (MHz) intermediate frequency (IF) for input to the Block V Receiver (BVR). All DSN antennas employ a receiver architecture where one or both circular polarizations of the received spectrum are amplified by a low- noise amplifier (LNA) and downconverted to IF. The antennas are designed to receive extremely weak signals and can be overloaded by signals in excess of –90 dBm. Antennas supporting 26 gigahertz (GHz) have a special low-gain mode that permits operation up to –50 dBm with degraded G/T. The Ka-band downlink also is collected by the 34-m main reflector and focused by the subreflector. It passes through the dichroic plate to separate it from the X-band downlink signal path, on its way to the Ka-band feed. DSS-25 is equipped for RCP or LCP at Ka-band. The Ka-band preamplifier is a high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT). Like the X-band downlink, after low-noise pre-amplification, Ka-band downlink is frequency down-converted for input to the BVR. 2.1.2 The 70-m (DSS-14 and DSS-43) Stations Figure 2-2 shows the antenna, microwave and transmitter sections of the 70-m stations, DSS-14 and DSS-43. The 20-kW X-band transmitter output goes through a polarizer and a diplexing junction to the X-band feed. From there, it passes through an S-band/X-band dichroic reflector on its way to the subreflector and the main 70-m reflector that sends the uplink on its way to the spacecraft. The S-band uplink carrier, modulated with a command subcarrier when required, can be transmitted by a 20-kW transmitter or (at DSS-43 only) a 400-kW transmitter. The transmitter output goes through an S-band diplexer, orthomode junction and polarizer to the S-band feed. From there, as the block diagram shows, the S-band uplink path is via three smaller reflectors and the 70-m reflector before radiation to the spacecraft. 20 Chapter 2 Fig. 2-2. Functional block diagram of 70-m microwave and transmitter.
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